Saturday's Gallagher Premiership Round 2 results: Harlequins 27-30 Saracens, Leicester Tigers 36-21 Newcastle Falcons, Bath 20-37 Sale Sharks, Wasps 8-23 Bristol Bears, Northampton Saints 38-22 London Irish
Saturday 17 September 2022 18:42, UK
Recap all of Saturday's Premiership action as Saracens came from behind to beat a Harlequins side missing Marcus Smith, while Leicester, Sale and Bristol also picked up wins...
Harlequins' frustration at the absence of Marcus Smith for their derby against Saracens was compounded by throwing away a commanding lead in a 30-27 Gallagher Premiership defeat.
Quins had attempted to secure Smith's early release from the 10-week stand down period imposed on England players involved in the July tour to Australia, but were refused by the variety of bodies that make the decision.
Facing them, however, were Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Billy Vunipola, Jamie George and Mako Vunipola - each of whom were in action against the Wallabies, highlighting the inconsistency of a policy designed to improve player welfare.
Quins' sense of injustice found an early outlet as they surged 17-0 ahead but Saracens replied with four tries, including two from wing Max Malins, to set up a tense finish at Twickenham Stoop.
Saracens had a bye for last weekend's opening round and, having blown away the cobwebs, they produced some brilliant moments before showing the composure needed to protect their slim lead at the end.
Nemani Nadolo scored two tries as defending champions Leicester beat Newcastle 36-21 for their first win of the Gallagher Premiership season.
Tigers took the lead within three minutes from a James Cronin try but Falcons hit back with two of their own through Josh Barton and George McGuigan.
Fijian Nadolo also set up a Chris Ashton try with a sublime pass to give Tigers the lead at the break but Falcons scored early in the second through Mateo Carreras to set up an edgy final 30.
However, a Jimmy Gopperth penalty and Olly Cracknell's converted try inside the final 10 minutes handed Tigers the bonus-point victory and condemned the Falcons to their second successive defeat.
Sale Sharks overcame an early red card for prop Nick Schonert to beat Bath 37-20 and claim their second Gallagher Premiership victory of the season.
Schonert was sent off after just nine minutes by referee Christophe Ridley for a head-high challenge on Bath lock Dave Attwood.
Sale spent 10 minutes of the final quarter reduced to 13 players after replacement prop Ross Harrison was sin-binned, but Bath could not capitalise.
The Sharks posted tries by wing Tom O'Flaherty, hooker Akker van der Merwe, flanker Tom Curry, who made his first appearance since suffering concussion during England's summer tour of Australia and scored just two minutes after going on, and Jono Ross.
Fly-half Robert du Preez kicked three penalties and four conversions for a 17-point haul as Sale followed up last weekend's win against Northampton with another impressive bonus-point triumph.
Wing Joe Cokanasiga and full-back Tom de Glanville scored second-half tries for Bath, with Piers Francis converting both touchdowns and booting two penalties.
But, after finishing bottom of the Premiership last season, Bath have started the campaign under new head of rugby Johann van Graan with successive defeats, underlining the huge rebuilding job that he faces.
Callum Sheedy scored 18 points as Bristol beat Wasps 23-8 at the Coventry Building Society Arena in a match that looked every inch a meeting between the ninth and 10th-placed teams in last season's Gallagher Premiership.
The Bears, buoyed by their opening round victory over Bath, barely got out of second gear as they cruised to a win by simply making fewer errors than a Wasps side devoid of confidence after letting a 21-point lead slip at Gloucester last week.
Tom Cruse's early try was not to be a tone-setter for Lee Blackett's side as Sheedy's penalty and his converted score gave Bristol a half-time lead.
Charlie Atkinson kicked a penalty but then missed a straightforward opportunity that would have put Wasps ahead.
From that point on the scoring was all in Bristol's favour as Sheedy landed another penalty as well as two drop goals, either side of Magnus Bradbury's try.
Stand-in skipper George Furbank scored 13 points as Northampton picked up their first win of the new Gallagher Premiership season with a 38-22 victory over London Irish.
The margin of victory was comfortable for Saints, beaten at Sale last Sunday, but it did not tell the full story of what was an error-strewn and sometimes bizarre encounter.
At one point, the visitors were three men light due to various players being sent to the sin-bin, although it was only after they were restored to full strength that the hosts pulled away.
